Instant Noodles
by solitarycloud
Summary: An AU fic. Taking a part-time job, Maria, OC! Philippines, just wanted to forget about guys and earn a little cash for herself, but, after a series of events, never in her wildest dreams did she think that she'd be the substitute guitarist of Southeast Asia's hottest boy band...As a boy..? WARNING: Very OC ASEAN centric, little historical accuracy, and Philippines x surprise nation
1. Prologue

AN: A week without internet... And this came out. I know, this prologue is super boring but I think this summary of events before the story would help at least. If it's too boring I'll just delete it and post chapter one so please just tell me in the review, okay? Other OC's will start appearing next chappie and so will chapter one. I own nothing by the way~ Hetalia belongs to Mr. Himaruya and all OC's belong to their respective countries :) The only thing I own is the plot but even then it's not that original ^^

Note: If this was too boring please go to chapter 1 instead. :)

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><p>There was one simple thing that Maria was sure about when it came to relationships. One undeniable truth that came from her own two failed experiences with love that she was completely and utterly sure of. It was that men, in general, just really suck. They really truly sucked.<p>

Growing up, Maria was one of those girls who were a victim of reading or watching way too much shoujo manga, romance movies, and dramas that led her to believe that the perfect guy for her was out there. But now… After experiencing what it was really like to be in relationships, she could say that the images of a perfect guy and a perfect romance were completely obliterated from her mind and that they were mostly lies made by the media industry to trick unsuspecting young girls. Of that, she was quite certain.

Her first boyfriend was a Spanish guy named Antonio. He was over all a sweet and cheerful guy with a strange fondness for tomatoes. When they were younger, Maria looked up to him as a cheerful albeit quite oblivious older brother. Admiration quickly turned into love and they started dating. They lasted about a year together.

Antonio seemed like the perfect guy at first. With him being extremely kind and caring, it was easy to see why she had fallen for him but he also had a side that she didn't know about. Although he didn't show it, he was actually very controlling and imposed many rules that he expected her to follow when they were together. Maria didn't mind at first but after a while, the unnecessary rules he started enforcing began to suffocate her. She hated being controlled and broke up with him as soon as she got the courage to.

The next guy she fell for was her American classmate, Alfred. She didn't really like his loud and somewhat egotistic personality at first but his optimism and bright smile won her over in the end. He had an infectious grin that never failed to make her giddy.

When her friends found out they were dating, not many were supportive; in fact, they, to be frank, were downright obstructive. Alfred had a reputation for being a player and, as her friends; they were really worried about her. Her Vietnamese friend, Kim, who had also once dated Alfred before had pretty much called him a number of obscenities that all were, more or less, synonymous to the term "man-whore". However, Maria, being the stubborn girl she was, didn't listen.

After two months of dating, Alfred cheated on her. While this was not surprising fact to those who knew his infamy for being a player, what did surprise them was whom he cheated _with_. No one expected that he, their class's notorious playboy, would end up with a guy, to be more specific, Arthur Kirkland. Many people knew they were childhood friends but no one knew the true extent of their relationship.

Anyway, Maria was obviously heartbroken by these turn of events and thus developed a deep distrust in men, much to the chagrin of her friends (to Mei in particular). To get her mind of guys (and to earn a little more cash as well), she took a part time job in the Huang Ti Mian noodle house. And that's pretty much where even bigger troubles started appearing before her too...

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><p>AN: Yeah... I know it's boring but I really wanted to do this idea for some reason. No offense, but I always see a Philippines x *insert western country* fic so I wanted to see her with an Asian nation. Again OC countries like Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia will appear next chapter. And lastly, thank you very much for reading~ I hope this prologue wasn't that boring and I will shut up now before I start annoying anyone. Thanks again~ :3 ~cloud<p> 


	2. The Customer

Instant Noodles

Chapter 1: The Customer

The Huang Ti Mian restaurant, or Emperor Noodles restaurant in English, was your average hole in the wall Chinese noodle house that served the best stir-fry noodles in town. To Maria, it was a haven and a blessing that she was able to find work there.

Prior to her part-time job as a waitress there, she'd spent a whole week looking for possible summer jobs to keep her mind off… _a certain someone_ and to earn a little cash for herself as well. And let me tell you something, it had been HELL for her.

Who knew there were so many unpleasant, horrible, and downright weird jobs out there? Not Maria. Some of the work was pretty normal but didn't have much pay like the job manning the cash register at the convenience store. A job as a mascot for a grocery actually caught her eye since the pay was quite high but under the summer heat, the mascot suit had been torture. The other jobs… well, they were scary and had questionable legality. She shuddered at the thought.

Maria smiled and hummed a happy tune as she wiped the dirt of the table and the lazy Susan (the spinning tray on the center of the table). She definitely owed Mei, her Taiwanese friend and classmate, an awesome birthday gift this year. Just as she was about to give up looking for a job, it was Mei who told her that her brother needed help in his Chinese restaurant.

Although the pay wasn't very high, it was still decent and the work was normal (thank God). The restaurant had a nice welcoming atmosphere and Mei's brother, the owner, though somewhat androgynous (Maria couldn't tell if he was a guy or a girl at first) was very kind to her. He even asked her to call him Yao Ge ge, meaning big brother Yao in Chinese. She warmly complied.

But the best thing about the Huang Ti Mian (or HTM for short), was the food. One could tell the food, especially the noodles, was great by the sheer number of customers alone. Due to its small size, the restaurant was almost always packed during lunch or dinnertime. Maria was elated when she found out the job offered free meals. Good food, especially sweets and desserts, was one of her weaknesses.

When Maria finished cleaning that table, she moved onto the next one. She was in a good mood since it was almost closing time and she could go home and watch that new K-drama on TV. And maybe eat chocolate. Chocolate~…

"Earth to Maria! Maria? Maria! …Are you even listening to me?"

Maria's chocolate daydream was interrupted by an exasperated voice. The "voice" belonged to Rachel Tan, her Singaporean friend and classmate. By the looks of it, the Singaporean seemed a little miffed at having to call the attention of her Filipina co-worker. Maria wondered if she spaced out for very long.

"Uhh… Sorry? What were you saying again?" Maria wiped the saliva that had started to form at the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and focused her attention on her bespectacled friend.

"There's a customer." was the curt reply. Maria raised an eyebrow; not a single customer ever came this late especially more so since it was already closing time.

Rachel gestured the eastern side of the restaurant and sure enough, there was a customer scanning a menu on the farthest table on the right. _"And a strange one too", _Maria observed.

The Filipina shot her co-worker a questioning glance. The "customer" didn't seem to be dangerous but he definitely seemed suspicious. What kind of person wore sunglasses, a trench coat, and a baseball cap? At night. During summer. Indoors.

The Singaporean shrugged and said, "It must be some sort of new fashion trend or something. Those actors from Hollywood always come up with something weird one way or another."

Maria was still skeptical. The customer looked a bit nervous; he kept turning his head and looking around the restaurant as if trying to hide from someone. "_Or maybe he has some sort of twitching disease?" _

The Filipina made her way over to the customer's table. Upon closer inspection, the guy's clothes looked really expensive and branded as well. Seriously, if he wanted to look inconspicuous, he could've lost the cap and the shades and worn plainer clothes instead.

"Good evening, sir. Would you like to or-"

"Get me two orders of the specialty noodles to go. Now."

"_How rude! He just cut me off!" _Maria bit her lip and forced a smile to be polite. The smile she used was the kind she reserved for cranky relatives, strict teachers, and, in general, people she really didn't like. And man, she was REALLY starting to dislike this guy.

"Anything else, sir?"

"No. Just go already."

Maria glanced back at the customer. He brought out his cellphone and began speaking to someone. The Filipina just shrugged and went on her way to the kitchen to relay the customer's order.

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><p>After a couple of minutes, Maria came back with the customer's food.<p>

As soon as she handed him the plastic bag his order, he immediately paid and left. She was about to clean up the table when she noticed the guy had left his phone.

Maria's mind raced; if she left now she could still chase after that guy! After a split-second decision, she took of her apron and ran after the customer.

As soon as she exited the restaurant, she quickly caught sight of the cap and trench coat turning on the corner of the street on the left and ran after them.

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><p><strong>5 minutes later<strong>

Maria was dead tired. She had been running for the past five minutes and somewhere along the way she managed to lose the guy. She was breathless, tired, and wanted to go home already.

She was about to walk back to the restaurant when, by some stroke of luck, she managed spot the customer who left his phone again. Maybe it was a good thing that his outfit was so noticeable.

Maria mustered up all the energy she could and ran toward the guy. She followed him to an alley and started to call out to him.

"Sir! You left your-"

Maria felt a hand pull her and another cover her mouth. Her first instinct was to scream but her captor roughly whispered in her ear, "Shh… Don't move and don't talk. You'll give away my hiding place."

Maria obeyed dumbly. A million questions flooded her mind. Who was this guy? Why was he doing this? Was she going to die? If she died, who would tell her parents? And how would she know what happened next on that K-drama she was following?

Seconds felt like hours and after what seemed to be forever, she heard voices and footsteps pass.

"JAYA! I LOVE YOU!"

"I'M YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN!"

"CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?"

"MARRY ME!"

From what Maria could see, outside their hiding place there was a throng of women, how many she couldn't tell. All of them were pushing and screaming at each other. For what reason, Maria didn't know.

"OH MY GOSH! I THINK I SEE HIM OVER THERE ON THE OTHER STREET!"

After that last outburst, the rest of the obsessive sounding girls stampeded over to the other street. And that's when her captor finally let her go.

Maria was still in a daze. The whole experience just scared her senseless! When she finally regained control of her brain, she took her first look at her captor. It was that same rude customer! And that's when she started to scream at the guy.

"Why did you do that? I don't even know you!" Maria glared at her "customer".

"You don't know me..?" The guy looked confused. He finally removed his shades and baseball cap and she saw his face for the first time.

Although Maria would definitely never admit it, especially right after what he'd done to her, he was quite good looking. He was just as good looking as he was rude.

"Of course I don't know you! The only reason I followed you was to give this back!" She showed him the cellphone he had left in the restaurant.

The guy checked his stuff. When he was sure his phone wasn't there with his things, he grabbed his phone from her outstretched hand.

"So… You really don't know me?" he asked.

"Why would I know you? I've only just met you in the restaurant!"

"Good." The guy smirked. Maria tried her best to resist the urge to punch this guy. He was really annoying her.

"Well, thanks for returning my phone. Bye." The guy then began to calmly walk away as if nothing happened and left Maria just standing there, dumbfounded.

When she finally regained control of her senses, Maria checked her watch and cried,

"Diyos ko! (My God!) It's that late? I'm going to miss my K-drama!"

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><p>AN: I'm so sorry! My computer broke (and is still broken at the moment) so I had to borrow my cousin's laptop to finally update this story. My cousin was nice enough to lend his to me for two hours (and he means ONLY two hours *sigh*). Sorry for those who were asking for a quick update...<p>

To all those who reviewed the last boring prologue namely: Random somebody, theluckyshipper, yukaeri, Luna Espejo, AnonAhoy, and AccessBlade, thank you all for your reviews very much! X3 I've never been so motivated to update before and sorry if this fic falls beneath your expectations (I'm still a newb writer, I'm afraid)... :(

I wonder if you guys can guess who "that guy" is XD Obviously, it's not Singapore anymore. I made Singa-chan a girl~ She's a smart Chinese looking girl who wears glasses and is good at Math ;D Hopefully, no one gets mad at my representation of the ASEAN... ^^;

Lastly, thank you very much if you read this whole chapter. I'm very grateful to you for that :3 (Although I'd especially love it if you left a review. Please? For Christmas? ^w^)


	3. Meetings

Instant Noodles

Chapter 2: Meetings

Rachel Tan was a very observant person. As soon as her Filipina friend and co-worker entered the restaurant, she could immediately tell something was wrong. She was about to ask her friend why she had left so suddenly but the Singaporean instantly stopped herself. Instead of Maria's usually smiling face, the Filipina looked royally pissed.

The Singaporean pondered whether or not to involve herself right away as she scrubbed away the dirt on the dish she was washing. As a friend, she knew it was her duty to ask what was wrong and do whatever in her power to help resolve the issue bothering her friend but… Siao (Crazy) No. Definitely not.

Whenever Maria was mad, Rachel knew very well from experience that her friend could easily be likened to a dormant volcano. Though rarely angry, the Filipina was just as destructive and could, without a doubt, make every grown man within a five meter radius come crying home to their mommies.

Rachel considered her options carefully and decided it was better to wait it out and ask her friend about it tomorrow. Why should she, someone who probably had nothing with whatever the reason behind her friend's rage was, have to experience the brunt of her friend's tremendous anger? That would be just stupid!, she reasoned.

While trying to get rid of that small piece of dirt that absolutely refused to come off the plate she was washing, the Singaporean glanced at her friend. Maria, who still looked greatly annoyed, was packing her stuff and preparing to go home.

"Damn it!" The plate almost slipped from her hands. Why did Chinese food always have to be so oily? And this stupid piece of dirt still wouldn't come off too!, she grumbled to herself.

Foot steps were heard coming down from the second floor; it was probably Mei, their Taiwanese friend and the sister of the owner of the Huang Ti Mian. Apparently, Mei had been assigned to keep the second floor clean that day.

"Maria! Maria! Can you-" The Taiwan native stopped herself. The dagger glare her Filipina co-worker was giving her began to scare her. Maria definitely didn't bother to hide the fact she was not in a good mood that moment, that's for sure. The Filipina girl said a gruff good bye to her co-workers and immediately left the restaurant.

"Hey, Rachel… What's wrong with Maria? She looked really, really pissed off." The Taiwanese girl pouted.

"Dunno lah"

"And Rachel..?"

"Hmm?" The Singaporean didn't even bother looking up and continued scrubbing; this piece of dirt was really trying her patience!

"Why are you washing that plate so much? It looks clean enough to me…"

"The stupid dirt won't come off."

"Umm… I don't think that's dirt. I think that's part of the plate's design."

"….."

A stream of curses mixed in bits of English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil over a "stupid plate" were heard coming from the kitchen.

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><p>"Good Morning!" Maria greeted her co-workers cheerfully as she entered the restaurant. She wore a wide smile and not a trace of the foul mood she had last night was present in her beaming face.<p>

The Singaporean and the Taiwan native replied respectively; the former being curt and quick to respond while the latter replied with an overload of energy and cheerfulness.

Rachel mentally congratulated herself; she had judged correctly and, for the most part, avoided the volcano-like wrath of her friend. She was bout to ask her friend what happened last night, but she dissuaded herself. _No, not now. _It would be wiser to observe and asses her friend's disposition first before asking anything her about last night, she decided.

The rest of their day proved to be highly uneventful. The restaurant was semi-busy as usual and Maria continued to work like nothing wrong had happened the night before. She even smiled sweetly at the most annoying, picky, and highly indecisive customers that entered the restaurant! A task Rachel herself, admittedly, could not do.

"Hey Maria…" It was already the end of the day and the Singaporean's curiosity got the better of her.

"Yeah?"

"About last night…" Rachel cleared her throat. "You were acting pretty weirdly, lah…"

"Um… About that…" Maria glanced around shiftily. "Remember that weird customer we had last night?"

"The one with the shades and the trench coat..?"

"That's the one." Rachel raised an eyebrow. Sure he looked… suspicious (was that the word?, she wondered), but he didn't seem dangerous. _Still, appearances could be deceiving._

"You see, last night, he-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a scream coming from the dining area. Without a single thought, both girls ran out of the kitchen area and headed out to see what was wrong.

"Mei? Are you al-" Maria stopped mid-sentence and glared. Without the facemask and the trench coat, Maria could easily recognize his face. It was that weird customer again! After making her run after him and practically scaring her to death, what the HELL did he want?

"You! What do you want?" the Filipina asked in a cold, annoyed tone.

Her former customer had a cocky smile on his face, as if happy to bother her yet again. He then turned to face his companion, frowned, and muttered something Maria couldn't hear.

"Of course, you have to at least apologize to her. Any girl would be traumatized by that kind of experience." was his companion's calm reply.

Maria didn't immediately notice her former customer's companion. Like her former customer, this new guy was also clad in expensive looking clothes, but, unlike his companion, he didn't have an arrogant scowl. Instead he had an easy-going smile on his face which was, in Maria's opinion, much more preferable than his companion's expression.

"Plus, she was nice enough to return your phone too" his companion added. The new guy sighed and then turned to face the Filipina. "Miss..?"

"It's Maria. Maria dela Cruz." She decided to trust this new guy; he seemed much more agreeable than his companion. And besides, no way in hell did she want to talk to rude jerk again!

"Right. My name is Ridwan and this" gesturing to his companion (aka Maria's former ill-mannered customer), "is Sanjaya or Jaya for short."

"Miss dela Cruz, we'd just like to thank you for returning Jaya's phone. It's umm… very important to us. Also, I'd like to apologize in his behalf for…" Ridwan paused for a moment, as if unsure of how he was going to phrase what he was going to say.

"Jaya, Ridwan~ Are you done already? It's already pretty late."

Ridwan's apology was interrupted by the entrance of a long-limbed Indian man who had a melodic voice and very graceful movements. He reminded Maria of one of those actors she saw in a Bollywood movie on TV.

"Manager, this is Maria dela Cruz, the waitress who returned Jaya's phone." Ridwan informed the tall new-comer.

"Karun, it's late. We should be going now." said Sanjaya.

"Ah, yes." The Indian man smiled at Maria. "Thank you very much, Miss dela Cruz. Sorry for having inconvenienced you last night. We shall be taking our leave."

Sanjaya was the first to exit, sauntering away slowly. Next was Ridwan, but before going, he waved a quick goodbye and smiled at Maria.

The Indian man was making his way to leave the restaurant, but, just right before the door, he suddenly stopped and said, "Oh, and please give my regards to Yao as well. He's an old friend of mine and his noodles are excellent."

As quickly the three had arrived, they had soon left the building. Maria was left just as confused as she was before they came. _Seriously, who were these people?_

_Mei! _The Filipina's eyes widened as she remembered her friend. During the conversation she had with those "weird customers", she had forgotten about her Taiwanese co-worker in her confusion.

Maria's eyes scanned the room. She found Mei sitting on a chair, staring at her with huge eyes. As she made her way to her friend and asked, "Mei, what hap-"

"WAHH! MARIA! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" Mei interrupted her co-worker with an accusing voice and began to sob. "I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!"

"Wait… What?" Again, Maria was left confused. The Filipina then turned to the Singaporean who had watched the whole exchange coolly. Rachel just shrugged.

"Mei… What exactly DIDN'T I tell you?"

"That, that you knew the members of Asia's second biggest band, Instant Noodles!" The red-faced girl said between sobs.

"Huh..?" Maria looked blank. "I don't know anyone from that band. I've never even heard of it until you mentioned it now."

"Liar! Those people who just came in were it's members! The guy who was talking to you, Ridwan, is their bassist from Brunei, while the taller one, Sanjaya, is their drummer from Indonesia!"

Maria's face paled as she processed the information her friend had told her. Her thought returned to the events that happened the night before. No wonder women were chasing that guy and screaming that they loved him. They were his fans! That also explained why he was surprised that she didn't know who he was and Mei's fan girl scream.

_God… What in the world just happened?_

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><p>AN:...Um, hi. Yeah, I know I have a lot of apologies to make for this chapter. First, for the lateness of this update. I don't really have any excuses except I'm really really slow at writing and that I was kinda busy with school and that I got distracted playing The World Ends With You (JOSHUA! X3) and Runescape. Sorry...<p>

Second, actually the Indonesian stereotype I know of now is that they're really friendly, gentle, and arrive late most of the, in other words, almost the exact opposite of the way I portrayed Indonesia here. I'm so sorry! DX I just had this image of him being really laid-back and cool in a cocky bad boy-ish way (which I obviously failed in portraying because I couldn't think of anything cool enough to make him say TT^TT) Again, I'm sorry...

Third, sorry if India and Taiwan are OOC. I'm not really sure what India's personality is like even after reading Hima- sensei's Halloween comic OTL. And for Taiwan, I know I really made her sound baby-ish. Sorry!

Lastly, I'm sorry for the rushed-ness of this chapter and the weird ending. Despite the not updating this story for a while, this chapter felt really rushed and, unlike the previous chapter, I did not have much time to re-write and revise the whole thing. This actually my first draft with some revisions here and there, so, if I missed any grammatical errors, I apologize in advance.

Also I'd like to thank those who reviewed namely: 18katrina, Luna Espejo, Yokina-san, AnonAhoy (actually, I really am new at writing, this whole chapter screams my newb-ness ^^;; the other chapter might have been a little better since I re-wrote and revised it a couple of times but thanks anyway :D), royal-tru-orange (sorry, I don't know any French except Oui and Bonjour OTL), theluckyshipper, storyteller412, AliceWang, and Stephy825 (...) All your reviews and comments (and the fact that people actually read this) really made my day :3 Thank you.


	4. The Agreement

Instant Noodles

Chapter 3: The Agreement

"Well, that was a pleasant meeting. Pity we couldn't have stayed any longer." Karun smiled at his two charges as the Indian man drove them away from the Huang Ti Mian restaurant in a shiny black car.

Sanjaya scowled. "Don't we have better things to do than going all this way to thank some random waitress? In case you've forgotten, Waen's arm is still broken and we still don't have a substitute guitarist for our gig next week."

"Don't sound so ungrateful." Ridwan berated his friend. "You could have at the very least thanked her properly."

"Tch." The Indonesian rolled his eyes. "Why do you even keep mentioning her? What? Do you have some sort of crush on her?" the Indonesian asked mockingly.

"N-no!" the Bruneian slightly stammered. "Well... I guess she was kind of cute."

"Plus, Ms. dela Cruz was nice enough to return your phone too." he added with a slight blush.

"Ohh... So that's your type, eh?" Sanjaya had his trademark smirk on as he teased his bandmate. "What was her name again? Mary or something..."

"I think it was Maria... Ms. Maria dela Cruz."

"Sounds western."

"She might be Filipino. Many people from the Philippines have Hispanic-sounding names, if my memory is correct." their manager mused. The Indian man had been listening intently in his charges' conversation.

"Anyway", Karun continued, "I believe Ridwan is correct, the way you acted was very rude to Ms. dela Cruz. You should be grateful to her for going through all that trouble, even a sincere thank you would suffice."

"Whatever." Sanjaya then reclined on his seat and put on his headphones to listen to his music.

Ridwan sighed. This was the typical Jaya way of saying 'shut up, I don't want to talk about this anymore'. The Bruneian knew very well that Jaya would completely shut down the world around him as soon as he lost himself to the beat and rhythm of the music.

_Talking to him now would be like talking to a rock_, he thought. Not even an earthquake could distract him from his music.

Ridwan suddenly felt tired. Probably due to the work they had that day, he guessed. Closing his eyes, the Bruneian found himself nodding off as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Even at this hour, there was still quite a bit if traffic along the sleepless streets of Singapore. The city lights mirrored the stars in the sky as they shone brightly against the darkness of the night. Many people were up and about just minding their own business as the trio passed them from their car.

Karun carefully navigated their way homeward. Despite his cheerful exterior and calm voice, a lot of things were bothering the manager. He already had enough work to do making sure the band followed through with their tight schedule, but the sudden injury of their guitarist completely threw them off track. Unless they could find a temporary guitarist soon, they were toast.

Strange enough, something else bothered the Instant Noodles' manager; for some reason, his thoughts kept on returning to that waitress they had met earlier. He was sure they had never met prior to that evening, but he felt he had heard her name from somewhere before.

_Why did her name sound so familiar?_

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><p>"Oh my gosh, Ria! It's not fair! Why are you so lucky?"<p>

It had taken a while for the Maria to explain the events that happened to her the night before, even with Mei, with her constant shouts and interruptions, making it extremely difficult for the Filipina.

Maria groaned inwardly and wondered how anyone could consider her lucky for going through all that. Famous or not, that drummer scared the life out of her when he just unexpected grabbed her out of nowhere. _But at least the bassist was nice…_

"Still, what I don't get is," Mei asked as she sat down on a chair, "Why would they go all this way just to thank you for returning Sanjaya's phone? I don't think I would go through all the trouble if it were me…"

"Not that I'm complaining, of course.", said Mei as she absentmindedly twirled her hair. The Taiwan-native had a bewildered smile on her face. Meeting the members of one of her most favorite bands had been a dream come true for the girl so it was natural for her to be in a daze.

Maria thought for a moment; Mei was right! Why would they go through all that trouble just to thank her for returning a phone? Judging from their clothes, they certainly looked like they could afford to buy the latest and most expensive gadgets anytime, so why..?

"Cellphones are really important nowadays.", Rachel stated calmly to answer her question. "It might've contained their schedule or the numbers of the other band mates. If left with the wrong hands, who knows how many fan girls and stalkers they'd have to deal with?"

"Right…"

"Aiyah! Why are you all still here? It's already very late, aru."

They were interrupted by the entrance of their androgynous boss, Yao Wang. The Chinese man looked at them worriedly, as if expecting to be informed of something terrible that happened to his restaurant while he was away.

"Ge ge! Why didn't you tell me you knew Instant Noodles?" Mei began speaking in rapid Cantonese that almost sounded incomprehensible to an untrained ear.

Yao was confused; his little sister was just speaking too fast for him to completely get what she was saying. The only thing he did understand was that she was saying something about instant noodles… _Instant noodles? The one you buy from the supermarket, aru?_

The Chinese man was severely disappointed; both he and Mei had grew up helping in their family's Chinese restaurant, so he was sure Mei could tell that their noodles were far better than the commercial garbage that they sold in supermarkets. Whatever it was she was asking for, Yao decided, he said no.

The Taiwanese girl pouted and angrily stormed away, angry at her brother for lying to her and not having told her about his friendship with the manager of one of her favorite bands.

"What just happened, aru?"

"It's a long story…"

* * *

><p>Maria was busy yet again. A couple of days passed since her meeting with the Instant Noodle band members and her life was falling back to the normal routine she had during the early summer. There was nothing out of the ordinary that day. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she washed one of the plates.<p>

The Filipina's happy plate washing was disturbed when her boss called her for something.

"Maria, could you please deliver these noodles for me, aru?"

The Chinese man then handed her a bag with noodles inside and a paper with the address. The Filipina wasn't surprised; this was not her first delivery and she had done this before. Although, the unfamiliar address scared her quite a bit. Just a tiny little a bit.

"Kuya Yao, I'm not very familiar with this address."

"Oh, you'll have to take the bus for that, aru."

"Okay, po."

And with that, the Filipina prepared to leave for her noodle delivery.

* * *

><p>The tall building loomed over Maria like a concrete giant towering over the tiny people that passed it by. It was much taller than any of the buildings she's seen back in Manila.<p>

From a distance, the Filipina could see the many people entering and exiting the building. _They all look so well dressed and important. _Looking down at her clothes, which was a red t-shirt and slightly worn jeans, Maria couldn't help but feel slightly self-conscious about her what she was wearing. _Maybe I should've worn a blouse today…_

Taking a deep breath, Maria made her way to enter the large building. She was immediately greeted by the sight of a bored looking woman at receptionist's table in the middle of the lobby.

"Excuse me.", Maria asked the truant looking receptionist, "Can you please tell me if I have the right address?"

She then handed the piece of paper with the address to the woman at the receptionist desk. The lady scrutinized the Filipina for a couple of minutes, looking at Maria from head to toe until her eyes rested on the bag of noodles she was holding and then looked back at the piece of paper with the address. In Maria's mind, the Filipina hoped she had the wrong address.

After a few long minutes (well, it _felt _long to Maria, anyway), the receptionist finally turned her head up to face the newcomer.

"Take the elevator on the left and go to the 24th floor.", said the uninterested receptionist with a wave of her hand.

Maria thanked her and quickly made her way to the elevator. When she got off at the 24th floor, Maria was shocked.

Instead of the busy office setting she was expecting, the Filipina found herself in a room crowded with numerous instruments and band equipment. Somehow, through the huge mess of equipment, Maria was able to make out a door in the far left corner.

Scanning the room, Maria's eyes were instantly drawn to an electric guitar on the right side of the room. Leaning on the stand, the guitar was beautifully black over white in color. The girl couldn't help but gravitate closer to the instrument.

Peering closely at the guitar, the Filipina's eyes widened in shock.

"Diyos ko po… (Oh my God…)"

On the headstock of the guitar was the standard Gibson Les Paul logo. She didn't even want to think how much one of these guitars would have cost!

"Excuse me, miss?"

The Filipina turned away from the guitar and gasped. The owner of the "voice" calling out for her was that manager of the band that visited the other day!

"I'm so s-sorry! I got distracted by the guitar and-"

The Indian man laughed and said, "It's alright. There's no harm in looking, right? So… Where are those noodles?"

"Noodles..? Oh!" Maria's eyes widened as she remembered the bag of noodles she was carrying. The Filipina blushed and handed the bag to the manager.

After he had paid for the noodles, the man asked Maria, "Do you play the guitar, miss?"

"Yes… I learned how to a very long time ago…"

"Would you like to play this guitar, miss? I really don't mind if you do.", said the manager with a smile.

"R-really, sir?"

The manager nodded. Maria was elated; the man was actually letting her play an authentic Gibson Les Paul!

Wasting no time, the Filipina quickly put on the straps of the guitar. As soon as she got used to the familiar weight of the guitar, she began strumming some practice chords. After a little while, the chords turned into a steady melody. Maria expertly moved her hands along the guitar, strumming up a powerful riff, or piece of music, that could easily stun anyone listening.

"That was amazing." The manager clapped his after listening to Maria's performance. "I expected nothing less from the protégé of the great Antonio Carriedo."

"You are Maria Isabella dela Cruz, correct? The one and only student of Bad Touch Trio guitarist, Antonio Carriedo."

"H-how did you know that?", asked Maria with an unsteady voice.

"I have my ways.", answered the manager with a sly smile.

"Anyway, Miss dela Cruz, I have a proposition for you. How would you like to be the temporary guitarist for my band? We will be willingly to pay you handsomely."

With that he whispered the amount in her ear. Maria's eyes widened in shock when she heard; it was four times the salary she was getting at the Huang Ti Mian!

"B-but I already promised Kuya Yao that I-"

"Don't worry about it, I already talked with Yao and he said he was willing to move your shifts in accordance with my schedule."

"If you join, you can even keep that guitar you're holding now.", he added.

Maria stared at the guitar and thought for a moment. Aside from work, she really didn't have any plans for the summer and she really _really _did need the money. Plus, they were even giving her a free guitar! A Gibson Les Paul too for crying out loud! What did she have to lose?

"Did Kuya Yao really say he he'd move my shifts?"

"Yes, I talked to him about it on the phone yesterday."

After taking another deep breath, she answered, "Yes, I'll join."

"Excellent. Now there's only one condition: You'll have to be a boy."

* * *

><p>AN: Hi! Umm... Sorry again for not updating in ages... I honestly didn't think February would be such a hectic month. Homework and weddings (yes, weddings =_=) practically ate up my free time. I was hoping to update before Valentines day but... yeah OTL<p>

For the pairings, I know everyone is asking for a BruxPhil but would it be alright if I focused on the plot first? I want to develop the plot first before starting with the romance parts...

Anyway thanks again for those who reviewed namely: Stephy825, theluckyshipper, ScriptReviewer (thanks also for the extra advice and the setting help! :D), Luna Espejo, and Yokina-san. Also thanks for those who faved and author alerted this story. And also special thanks to xMaddie for answering my questions about Singapore. Thank you all very much! ^w^

Lastly, please review! You don't know how much those reviews motivate me =w= Thanks for reading!

~cloud X3


	5. The Stylist

Instant Noodles

Chapter 4: The Stylist

Looking at the mirror, Maria couldn't help but stare at the face that reflected back at her. Sure, it was _her_ face, she was certain of that (nothing a few pinches and slaps couldn't prove), but it was so different that the Filipina had a hard time believing the reflection was hers.

After she had agreed to the manager's proposition, Maria found herself dragged to a dressing/make up room. The person in charge of her "transformation", a blond Pole named Feliks, quickly handed her guy clothes to change into and asked her to bind her chest with some bandages.

The girl winced as she remembered. The binding in her chest still hurt quite a bit, but the Filipina was sure she could get used to the pain after a little while.

As soon as she finished changing and all that, Feliks began applying make up on her and fixing her hair. Maria wasn't sure how long the whole process took; somewhere in the middle of it all she dozed off, lost in her own world until the make up artist tapped her on the shoulder.

"Like, totally rad, right?" The Polish man… err, woman. No, _person _(yeah, that's the word) interrupted the girl's train of thought.

"Yeah… I definitely couldn't recognize myself at first."

The make up artist grinned. "Of course, sweetie. I'm, like, a pro after all."

The Filipina took another good look at the mirror. Her long black-brown hair, which had previously almost reached all the way to her waist, was now covered behind a short haired wig of a similar hue and her feminine curves were now hidden behind a fashionably loose blue dress shirt and some slacks. The make up worked well in concealing her feminine features too. She truly looked like a different person. A guy to be exact. Albeit a kind of short one.

"Hon, are you okay?" Feliks looked at her worriedly. "You seem, like, kinda dazed."

Maria blinked a couple of times. Did she really space-out again? The Filipina sighed. She'd been doing it quite often lately, so much in fact that she'd been scolded by her co-workers at the restaurant numerous times already. _Ugh…_ _I really have to focus more, I don't want this to turn into a habit…_

"Sorry. I guess I'm a little nervous about this," the Filipina gestured at her "transformation" and smiled apologetically at the Pole. "I mean, I've barely even seen all the members, let alone even heard of the band until a few days ago!"

Feliks stared at her in what Maria would describe as "dramatic shock". Was it really that surprising that she'd never heard of them until recently? Were they really _that_ popular?

"You're not… not, like, pulling my leg here? You've seriously never heard of Instant Noodles?"

Maria shook her head as response. The make up artist continued to gawk at her in astonishment until the Filipina noticed his (Maria finally decided to make use of male pronouns) lips curve upwards into a playful smile.

"Well, sweetie, I guess you're in luck today~! I've been, like, working with the boys ever since day one of their career, so I know a thing or two about most of them~" the blond winked at her.

The girl sat up straight and glanced at the smug look the Pole was giving. That definitely piqued her curiosity. She had only met two of the band members before and was curious to know what the others were like. _Hopefully, they all won't be as rude and disagreeable like that drummer… _

"What's the band like overall? I mean, from what I've heard, they're really very popular."

"Well… They _are_ the second biggest band in Asia after all~ Each of them have a different nationality which makes them, like, popular in their own respective countries and they sound great together as a band. And~, let's not forget, all of them _are_ pretty damn good-looking. _I _personally make sure of that." Feliks grinned proudly.

"What about the members? Are they easy to work with?" Maria thought back to the ones she had already met. The Bruneian bassist seemed nice enough, but she _definitely_ couldn't say the same for that drummer.

The Pole opened his mouth as if about to say something, but quickly closed it and said, "Wait! Like, gimme a second!"

Maria followed Feliks with her eyes as the Polish stylist made his way to a stack of magazines at the back of the room. The Pole then grabbed one and quickly began flipping through the colorful pages. When he looked like found what he wanted, Feliks made his way back to where Maria was seated.

"I, like, figured it would be much easier for you if you had an idea what they looked like." explained the blond. He handed her the magazine to look at.

The Filipina peered curiously at the glossy pages of the magazine. On the open pages was the band's advertisement for a concert held just a few months ago somewhere in Malaysia. The ad featured all five members poised with each of their respective instruments in such a way that they looked as if ready to come alive and start playing their music.

"This guy in the middle," Feliks pointed to a guy holding a microphone, "is the band's lead singer, Malik. He's from Malaysia. Among the boys, he's probably the one who gets out the most. Y'know, parties and all that? He's a good guy, really, but if he knew you were a girl he'd probably, like, flirt with you…"

"F-flirt..?" The Filipina gulped.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. Don't forget you're gonna be dressed up as a boy anyway."

"Right…"

"The one on Malik's left with the bass guitar, his name is Ridwan."

Maria's eyes widened with recognition and exclaimed, "I know that guy! He seemed really nice."

"He is." Feliks agreed. "He's the sweetest among all the boys. Polite and kind too, he's ,like, a real gentleman, but, sadly, he's probably like one of the least noticed in the band. Total bummer, right?"

Maria nodded and Feliks went on with introducing the rest of the members.

"Now, this guy beside Malik on the right, the one with glasses holding a guitar, that's Waen, the guitarist from Thailand. "Waen" is actually just a nickname since no one seems to be able to remember his full name. He's a really nice guy but kinda spacey sometimes… Based on a survey held sometime ago, people say he has one of the best smiles out there and he really, like, _does_ smile all the time."

"This is the guy I'm standing in for, right? Umm… What exactly happened to him?" asked Maria.

"Oh, he got into an accident during their last performance. Some fan girls went wild and pulled him off the stage. He broke his arm in the fall."

"Ouch."

"Totally." The Pole nodded his head in agreement. He then pointed to the keyboardist behind Ridwan.

"This guy playing the keyboard over here, his name is Shein. I honestly, like, dunno him very well except that he's Burmese. He just joined the band around three months ago and doesn't talk very much. I guess you could say that he's the quiet mysterious type?" Feliks shrugged.

"Okay~! Last but not the least," Feliks then pointed to drummer at the back. Maria recognized the face of her good looking but rude former customer and grimaced.

"His name is Sanjaya but everyone in the band just calls him Jaya. He's from Indonesia. He has a pretty short temper and, like, gets into fights with Malik a lot, but he's a good guy over all. You might not believe it at first but he's the one who actually writes and composes most of the songs for the band."

When Feliks finished introducing the band members, he noticed Maria's wig was slightly out of place and began to fix it.

"Don't move too much." said Feliks as he started to pin the wig back to its original position.

"Oh, sorry." Maria did her best to keep still. She wasn't used to sitting still for a long time so she couldn't help but squirm every now and then. To distract herself from trying to keep still, she asked another question.

"The band… Umm… What kind of sound do they have..?"

The Polish stylist paused from his work and thought for a moment. "Hmm… I guess you could say, they're, like, some totally awesome alternative band with some rad pop elements, I guess."

"Oh… Thanks for answering my questions."

"No problem. You can, like, talk to me any time."

"And~ done!" The wig was now properly in place. "Are you sure you don't have any more questions? I can, like, tell you some of their personal info if you want." Feliks winked at her.

Maria laughed. If it had been Mei or any other Instant Noodles fan girl, they would have probably already bombarded Feliks with millions of questions. The thought of Mei in her fan girl mode made her smile for no reason.

"Nah, I'm good. I'll be meeting them really soon anyway."

"Aww… That's no fun." Feliks pouted.

The two ended up exchanging cellphone numbers and chatting happily until they heard a knock from the door.

"Excuse me? Are you guys done? May I come in?" asked a melodic voice. It was the manager checking in on them.

Feliks opened the door and let the manager in. As soon as Karun entered, his eyes looked around the room until they finally rested on Maria. The Filipina fidgeted a bit, slightly self conscious of the manager's gaze. After glancing at the girl from head to toe and assessing her "transformation", the Indian man nodded his head in approval at Feliks.

"Maria, are you done getting ready? The boys are back from an interview and they are waiting in the other room. I think it's time you meet them." said the manager with a smile.

The Filipina nodded her head, stood up, and let herself be led to the next room.

* * *

><p>AN: I'M SO SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! I'm really really sorry... I know it's been forever since I last updated, but still... I'm really sorry... To make up for it I put a double update, but still, again I'm really sorry... m(_ _)m I really hope y'all will forgive me and still read this story...<p>

And before I forget (just making sure), all standard disclaimers apply, I own nothing but this unoriginal plot.


	6. The Band

Instant Noodles

Chapter 5: The Band

"So… Is everything alright so far?"

"Huh..?"

"Well… You don't seem to be the type who's usually very quiet, so I was wondering if something was wrong." the manager explained.

The question came out quite abruptly. Prior to the that, they had been walking towards the room where the band was. Maria had been listening to the manager go on about the band, their work, and her job, so that suddenly coming up was a bit of a surprise.

"I guess I'm a little nervous about meeting them that's all."

They were standing just outside the doorway to where the band was.

Karun laughed. "Well, don't be. They're good kids, all of them. Are you ready to meet them now?"

The Filipina nodded her head and took a deep breath. _Here goes nothing..._

* * *

><p>Upon entering the room, the first thing Maria noticed was the neat and modern furniture that adorned the room, definitely a huge contrast to the clutter of the storage room she had entered from and the make updressing room.

Majority of the room was blue but orange furniture such as a couch and a couple of chairs managed to liven it up. The five guys Feliks told her about occupied the room as well. Some were watching TV, while another was using the computer. With the PC and the giant TV in front of the couch, Maria guessed that this was some sort of recreation room.

"Boys! I have someone I wanted to introduce to you~" the manager called out.

One by one, each of the guys dropped whatever he was doing and made his way to where she and the manager was until four of them were before them. Maria recognized the two she had meet before and the ones that Feliks introduced to her, but something wasn't right. One of them was missing.

"Huh? Where's Waen?" asked the manager.

"He's in the kitchen, I think." answered the one Maria remembered as the nice bassist. _Was he the one named Ridwan? Ugh... I suck with names..._

"Could you please call him for me? I have someone important I want to introduce."

"Yes, manager." With that, the bassist left to call the missing band mate. After a few minutes, he came back with a happy looking guy with glasses and a large bandage wrapped around his arm.

_This must be the guitarist I'm subbing for. _Maria vaguely recalled Feliks mentioning him having an injury and not being able to play for a month or so.

"Ahem." The Instant Noodles manager cleared his throat. "Now that everyone's here, I have someone I want to introduce to you boys. This here," the Indian man gestured to the Filipina beside him," is Manuel dela Cruz. He'll be playing the guitar while Waen's arm is still injured. Treat him nicely, okay?" Karun smiled at all of them.

"…"

_Why are they all staring at me for..? Shoot! Do they expect me to say something? _The Filipina panicked. In an attempt to sound like a guy, Maria lowered her voice and said, "Umm… Hi… Uhh… It's nice to meet all of you…"

"…"

An awkward silence filled the air.

_AAAHHHH! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY IN THIS KIND OF SITUATION? _Maria frantically looked around, trying to read everyone's expression. Some of the band members looked at her with an amused expression, while others, as if studying her intently, stared at her with poker faces. At this point, the Filipina just wanted to pull her hair... wig... whatever out.

The first one to break the silence was the Malaysian lead singer, Malik. He introduced himself and then grinned at her.

"I'm Malik and welcome to the band, newbie!" Malik thumped her hard on the back. _Aray..! That kind of hurt. _Maria smiled at him weakly.

"Hello. Welcome to the band. My name is Ridwan." the bassist greeted her with a smile.

"Sawasdee Krub*, Manuel. Everyone just calls me Waen, ana~" Waen smiled widely and then made an effort to put his good hand together with the bandaged one in a prayer-like fashion and bowed.

"Umm…" Maria was puzzled. Was she supposed to follow his actions as well? She really didn't want to seem rude on her first day…

Before Maria finished contemplating whether or not to follow, she was interrupted by another band member's greeting.

"I'm… Shein… I… play the… keyboard…" As soon as he finished introducing himself, Shein made his way back to the couch.

_Okay… What's with this guy's pauses..? _The Filipina raised an eyebrow.

"Ana~ Don't mind Shein. He doesn't talk very much, ana~" Waen continued smiling at her.

"Umm… okay.'' The Filipina tried to maintain her smile. _And "ana" is supposed to mean..?_

"You… You're our substitute guitarist? Show us what you've got." Maria blinked. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that the "you" was referring to her.

The Filipina turned around to face the voice calling her. It was her rude former customer. That drummer who almost scared the life out of her a few days ago. _Of course. _

Maria really forced on a smile. _Gee… Not even a proper greeting? Glad to know you're still a rude jerk._

The drummer cocked his head and looked at her impatiently.

"Umm, Jaya? Shouldn't you at least introduce yourself first..? Ridwan tried to intervene.

The drummer chose to ignore his friend. "…You can play, can't you?"

_Arrogant jerk! _That last statement was obviously directed at her. Ugh! That guy _really _knew how to tick her off!

Instead of shouting back like she'd normally do, Maria grabbed the gig bag which contained the guitar the manager had lent her. After she had unzipped it and removed its contents, she prepared and positioned her guitar and the amplifier, then began to play.

* * *

><p>"Whoa! Dude, that was awesome, Manuel! You're probably as good as Waen!" exclaimed Malik.<p>

As soon as Maria finished playing, most of the guys who had been watching her play stood there with their mouths agape. But not that drummer. He was just gazing at her, as if thinking of something intently.

Maybe he was thinking of some way to criticize her? Ugh. Maria grimaced at the thought. Whatever. But truth be told, maybe she did want to see him shocked or even just a little surprised. Maybe that's why she was kind of disappointed seeing his expression unchanged.

"I agree, ana~ That _was_ great. Antonio Carriedo is a guitar genius. Not many people can do a Bad Touch Trio piece because of the insanely fast riffs. Good job, ana~" Waen patted her on the head.

"I think you played great too." agreed Ridwan with a smile. Even the ever so silent Shein, gave her a nod of approval from the couch.

The Filipina smiled at all of them, happy that they enjoyed her performance. Now all that's left was Sanjaya's reaction. She silently hoped that he wouldn't kill her good mood.

"Towards the end of the piece your strumming became slightly weaker. With a BTT (Bad Touch Trio) piece like that your strumming should be consistently strong." remarked Sanjaya.

_I knew it! He was looking for a reason to insult me! True, maybe my guitar playing skills are a little rusty, but still..! _Maria stared at the drummer. She was about to open her mouth to retort what he just said, but, before she could say anything, he interrupted her.

"But the fact you chose a difficult piece like that," Sanjaya began to smirk, "Now that was bold. You pass. Welcome to the band."

* * *

><p><em>Well, that was a pleasant surprise. <em>Karun smiled to himself. He knew for a fact that his nephew rarely approved of musicians outside the band, unless of course, they somehow met his, relatively speaking, high standards. Not many could do such a feat.

The Indian man had been standing outside the room the whole time. As soon as he finished introducing the Filipina, he quietly stepped out of the room and left the youngsters to their own devices, carefully observing all of them. So far so good. No one seemed suspect their substitute guitarist was a girl. Not yet, anyway.

The manager focused his eyes on the girl. She looked confused. As if she couldn't decide whether to smile or punch his nephew in the gut. Karun chuckled. He knew Jaya had that effect on a lot of people. He also knew that he'd try to provoke her into showing her true skills. That was definitely just like him to do something like that.

That girl's skill… Well, that was definitely to be expected. She was the one and only student of Antonio Carriedo, the guitar genius of Bad Touch Trio, after all. Carriedo, being the eccentric he is, would never take on any students. Seeing this girl's talent now, maybe Carriedo saw potential in her skill to surpass his own?

Well, whatever the reason why he taught her, Karun considered himself lucky to see such good guitar playing just now.

Looking back to the kids, the girl looked mad. Her nostrils were flaring and her eyes seemed to be glaring at his nephew. Ridwan and Waen seemed to be trying to appease her. The manager sighed.

_So much for observing quietly in the background. _Now was probably the best time to intervene. It was getting pretty late after all. He'd have to drive her back to the restaurant. Hmm… Maybe he'd have time for a friendly chat with Yao and a bowl of noodles.

Yes, a bowl of his friend's noodles was definitely in order.

* * *

><p>*Sawasdee Krub - hello in Thai for males, there are many variations in spelling though, but I decided to go with this one since it seems to be the most commonly used ^^;<p>

* * *

><p>AN: Again, I'm really very sorry for not updating since... well... forever. I'll do my best to update faster, but I still might... no, will is the right word... take a long time writing this. I'm a very turtle-paced writer and I humbly apologize for that. m(_ _)m<p>

Thank you so much to everyone who's read and reviewed :3 The fact that someone out there is actually reading this and more especially receiving reviews, really motivate me to write more. If it's not to much too ask, please do leave a review. Thanks again!

~cloud :3


	7. A Good Friend

Instant Noodles:

Chapter 6 - A Good Friend

_She's probably going to come home late again, isn't she? _Kim Nguyen sighed as she sipped some of her tea.

The pony-tailed girl looked at the bowl of pho, or Vietnamese noodles, she had set aside for her Filipino friend and flat-mate. The broth of the noodles had gotten cold and the vegetables were probably soggy. Maria would just have to do with heating it in the microwave, she thought.

Kim Nguyen shared a rented apartment flat with two other girls. Two years ago, the thought of herself living in a rented flat would have definitely been a preposterous idea and way beyond the budget of a normal student studying abroad. But now, after researching the price ranges of housing expenses in Singapore, she was glad she opted for splitting the apartment rent with the two other girls.

The dormitory her university had recommended looked as if it was a century old and was already very much crowded with students from various countries studying abroad.

Not a place with much room for privacy, she had decided.

Incidentally, two other students she had met studying in the university shared the same housing dilemma as her and, by mutual interest, they opted to rent a flat together.

After much searching, they were able to find the perfect house situated just near Singapore's commercial area. The three-bedroom flat was just walking distance away from their university. A great position considering how much they would save from commuting to school everyday.

The Vietnamese girl glanced at the green wall-clock across their dining table. It was already 9:30 and Maria still wasn't back. She knew the Filipina had a penchant for coming late for everything, but it was already very dark outside and Kim began to worry.

Kim checked her cellphone one last time. Usually the Filipina would text her whenever she came home late, saying that she had a late shift or that she'd went out with Mei or Rachel, but, tonight, Kim received no text of that sort. This bothered her quite a bit.

_Maybe her phone died..? _The Vietnamese girl sincerely hoped nothing bad happened to her friend. She had known Maria and Chenda, their Cambodian flat-mate, for a year and already considered them younger sisters of sorts.

Chenda was already napping in her room. She had just come back home from a date with Kahoku, her Laotian boyfriend. The Cambodian girl came home with a happy smile on her face, claimed to be tired and immediately went back to her room.

_Lucky girl. _Though she was younger than both her and Maria, Chenda already had a steady boyfriend. Kahoku was a very nice guy and paid great attention to her friend. Kim knew she didn't have to worry when Chenda was with him, the Laotian made sure of that when they started dating. Knowing that, Kim was happy for her friend.

Still, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

Maria, on the other hand, was on the opposite side of the spectrum. Three months ago, Alfred, her American boyfriend for two months, dumped her for some British guy. Kim dated that guy before and already knew of him and his man whore ways. She tried to warn her friend before she got hurt, but still… to no avail, Maria was just too stubborn for her own good at times.

The blonde idiot was a jerk, a bastard, and a whole list of Vietnamese profanities for playing her and her friend like that. Maria had spent a whole week in her room crying about their break-up and might've spent even longer if Kim hadn't talked to her.

"Go away." Maria had said in tears when Kim went to her room to console her.

"Ria…," Kim had said gently, "It's been a week since it happened. You have to move on and get back to your life. You can't spend the rest of your life crying in your room for a bastard like that!"

"B-but I think I still love him!" Maria hiccupped and sobbed even louder.

Kim sighed and handed her a pack of tissues. "Any guy who dates you for two months and then just dumps you because he was never interested in the first place is just an ass-hole!"

"H-he is..?" Maria sniffed.

"Of course! You shouldn't have anything to do with him." Kim took a tissue from the pack and began to dab it on her friend's eyes.

"B-but… But, why am I in love with an ass-hole?" Maria wailed.

Kim placed a comforting arm around her friend. "Millions of girls have asked themselves the same question, but I don't think anyone knows a good answer for it."

"It hurts… I thought… I thought I knew how much it hurt to break up with someone… But, still..! It hurts!" Maria began another round of tears.

"Ria…" Kim sighed. "I know it's painful, but you have to be strong. You can't waste your whole life crying about him."

The Filipina took a ragged breath and asked, "H-has it ever happened to you?"

Kim winced as she remembered her past boyfriends. That American jerk and a French pervert. Damn bastards.

"Yes…"

"What did you do?" Maria's tears seemed to have subsided a bit as she focused her attention on her Vietnamese friend.

"I…" Kim took a few seconds more to think. "I distracted myself. I went out with friends. Focused on school. Took a job. I did all that I could to distract myself from him."

"You took a job..?"

"Yeah… I just… I just moved on with my life. And you should too. I know you'll find someone. Someone who'll love you just as much as you'll love him. He's out there, I'm sure."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because… because…. Because there just has to be someone out there for you. Look, you're a nice, smart, and pretty girl. You're bound to meet someone soon. It'll get better, I promise."

"Promise?" Maria wiped away the last of her tears.

"Yes, I promise." said Kim firmly.

With a nod, Maria had leaned on her friend's shoulder while Kim began to comfortingly pat her on the back.

True to her word, the Filipina did what she could do to distract herself like focusing on schoolwork and getting job. Pretty soon, she began smiling and laughing like old times. Kim smiled at her friend's recovery.

_Has it really been three months since then? _Maria now acted just as she had prior to breaking up with Alfred. No one would've guessed she'd suffered through a particularly painful break up. Her usually smiling face masked it all.

Nowadays, Kim just worried her friend worked to hard. Before the break up, Maria never really did work that hard for anything other than studies. But now, the Filipino always seemed to be on the move.

_Still, it doesn't change the fact that her room is a perpetual mess. I guess that part of Maria will never change… _Kim chuckled at the thought.

"Ate? Are you still awake?" Maria's voice called out from another room.

Kim was instantly snapped away from her train of thought. "I'm in the kitchen," she called out.

The Vietnamese girl could here noises from where she was. Kim guessed Maria was putting away her shoes in their giant shoe rack and was changing into slippers, or _tsinelas_ as she liked to call them.

A few minutes later, the Filipina entered the kitchen with a tired look on her face. The moment the Filipina saw Kim's stern face it instantly changed into one of nervousness. Kim was sure heard an "eep" sound.

"Umm… Sorry for coming home late…"

"What took you so long?"

Maria ran a hand through her hair. "I… umm… It was my turn to wash the dishes…"

"You should've called or texted." scolded Kim.

"Sorry…"

The Vietnamese girl sighed. "Ria, it's good that you're working hard at your job, but please, don't over do it."

Maria detected a note of worry in her friend's voice. "I won't. Promise."

"Good." Kim was reassured.

"Hey, is that pho?" Maria's eyes brightened as she looked over her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, it is, but it's cold now though. I saved some for you earlier."

"Yay~!" Maria smiled and took the bowl to the microwave.

Seriously, she's like a kid sometimes, thought Kim. Still, she couldn't help but smile at her friend's childlike excitement.

"And Ria?"

"Hmm?"

"Eat your vegetables! Don't even think about throwing them in the trash can like last time!"

"A-ay! Yes ma'am!"

* * *

><p>AN: Okay~! Here's this month's update :D Sorry for the wait but I've been really busy with school ^^; Third year high school, they say, is the most important year and I reaaaaallllly want to do well so I can get into a good college *cough*UP or Ateneo*cough* My grades are pretty... average, sadly, so I really have to do my best with school work. Sorry if I'm even slower in updating now m(_ _)m<p>

To the anonymous reviewer: Sorry if I confused you with the names... Here's just a quick rundown of all the characters I have so far:

Philippines = Maria, Singapore = Rachel, Taiwan = Mei, China = Yao, Indonesia = Sanjaya, Brunei = Ridwan, India = Karun, Malaysia = Malik, Thailand = Waen, Myanmar (or Burma) = Shein, Vietnam = Kim, Cambodia (only mentioned though ^^;) = Chenda, Laos(also only mentioned)= Kahoku

Anyway, for this chapter, it was actually supposed to be just part of the next chapter but I kinda, well, got distracted writing it and it just ended up containing 1500 words so I just made it a separate chapter instead ^^; I wanted to do a small retelling of the past without actually writing flashback or something, hopefully it wasn't too confusing...

I really like Vietnam :3 I've always seen her as the big sister of the ASEAN and I can definitely imagine her acting all calm and mature and giving advice too ^.^ As for Cambodia and Laos... Ehehe, I think it's pretty obvious I ship CamLao ^w^ I honestly haven't figured out what personality I'm gonna give them really... If you have any suggestions feel free to suggest~! :)

Before this gets too long, special thanks to Luna Espejo, TisikTisik, and the anonymous reviewer (LOL :D I have a feeling I know who you are~) for the reviews. Seriously guys please please review *makes a begging puppy face* It really drives me nuts not knowing what people think... ^^;;

Thanks for reading! - solitarycloud X3


	8. The Guitarist

Instant Noodles:

Chapter 7 - The Guitarist

"Like, take a chill pill, man. Maria's gonna come for sure. Stop worrying already!" Feliks amusedly watched his friend pace back and forth the room. "Seriously, dude, you look like you're expecting your first child."

Karun stopped in his tracks and sighed. "I suppose you're right. Yao did say she had a habit of coming late most of the time. "Filipino time", as they say."

"Hmm... Like, don't Jaya and Malik come pretty late too? So... Is it like some sort of Malaysian and Indonesian thing as well?"

Karun ran a hand through his hair and looked at the blond thoughtfully. "Probably. They have "Indonesian time" and "Malaysian time" in their places too."

"LOL." The Pole couldn't help but laugh heartily. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something else, a familiar "ding" was heard by the duo.

"Speak of the devil, that's probably Maria getting off from the elevator," said Feliks.

Karun briskly walked out of the dressing room and into the storage room to pick up their new substitute guitarist. As he was leaving, the Indian man made a quick mental note to give the girl a thirty minute allowance next time he called for her work.

Though she was fifteen minutes late, they were lucky that the band still hadn't returned from a photo shoot they went to earlier that morning. They still had enough time for Maria to "transform" into a boy. Karun would make sure they'd stick to their schedule despite any possible delay. He was their manager after all.

* * *

><p>The room Maria was waiting in had thick white walls and double doors (as in a door outside a door). Various instruments and sound equipment cluttered the small room. The girl knew from experience that this was most likely a practice room for the band.<p>

As embarrassing as it was, the Filipino had come in fifteen minutes late. Definitely not the kind of impression she wanted to give her new boss on her first day, even if she did have a bad habit being tardy for everything.

She had just come from work in the Huang Ti Mian restaurant and it was her turn mop the floor that day. Maria had been so focused on keeping the floor spotless that she lost track of time and came running to the building late. She ended up apologizing a lot for that.

"I'm... so... sorry..." the girl had said in between pants.

"It's alright, just be sure to come on time next time," said the manager with his eyes on his wristwatch.

He quickly dragged her to the dressing room where she "transformed" into a guy. Feliks managed to get everything, meaning the hair, clothes, and makeup, done in a record-breaking five minutes, leaving them with just enough time before the boys came. Karun then brought her to the white walled room, where she was told to wait until further instruction.

Which was where she was right now.

Maria fidgeted in her seat. _I was never really good at keeping still_, she thought.

The Filipina sighed and began to look around the room. She noticed the beautiful white guitar she had used the day before on a stand beside a drum set. Another guitar, wine red in color, was neatly placed just next to the white one. The room also contained a keyboard, some microphones, and whole lot of musical equipment and stands.

Slightly annoyed that the stool she was told to sit in didn't have a back, Maria leaned against the wall. Surprising, the wall wasn't as hard as she expected it to be since it was pretty thick and was softer than the average wall.

This room must be soundproof, she thought. After all, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together and understand that the thick walls were meant to keep the noise of the instruments in.

_I'm so bored…_ The Filipina couldn't help but yawn._ Ugh, maybe I'll just go to the comfort room and wash my face first._

* * *

><p>After her trip to the restroom, Feliks spotted Maria walking around the corridor. He easily noticed the makeup washed from her face and asked, "What happened to the make up?"<p>

"Makeup..?" And then it her. During her "transformation" into a boy, Feliks had applied it on her face to conceal some of her feminine features, but she completely forgot about that and washed away most of it.

"Umm… I washed it off…." Maria looked at the Pole sheepishly.

"Ugh… Like, be more careful next time!" Feliks quickly brought her to the dressing room and quickly began re-applying the makeup again. As soon as he finished, he walked her back to the practice room she had been waiting in.

"Seriously, I worked hard to make you look all guy-ish! Don't just wash it off like that!"

"Sorry." The girl apologized for the umpteenth time.

When the Filipina returned to the practice room, she was surprised to see one of band members sitting on her stool. It was Waen, the Thai guitarist she was standing in for.

The bespectacled musician had a contented smile on his face and was staring mindlessly at the ceiling. He looked so peaceful, as if he was meditating on the meaning of life or some out of this world topic. At closer inspection, he seemed a little older than her. _Just about the same age as Ate Kim_, Maria thought.

Maria was polite enough to leave him to his…meditation(?) for a few minutes, but she was starting to get tired of just standing around.

"Umm… Kuya Waen..?"

"Hello?"

"…" Still no reaction.

The Filipina moved closer and waved her hand in front of him, trying to get his attention.

"Hellooo?"

"Ana~?"

Startled, Maria reflexively pulled her hand back and took a step back.

"Oh, it's you, Manuel. Don't you think the atmosphere is lovely today, ana~?" said Waen, finally taking notice of the surprised girl in front of him.

_Atmosphere?_ The Filipina raised an eyebrow. "Uhh… Yeah, I think so."

The Thai guy just continued smiling at her.

"…"

Diyos (God), does he ever stop smiling? Maria was seriously starting to get freaked out.

"Umm… Kuya Waen-"

"Kuya?" The bespectacled guy asked, curiously.

"It's umm… the Filipino equivalent of big brother in English or da ge or ge ge in Chinese. I usually say it as a sign of respect to someone older than me," Maria explained.

"Oh, I understand now, ana~ Thank you for explaining."

"Anyway, Kuya Waen, why exactly are you here?"

"Right… Manager asked me to help teach you a bit of our songs, ana~" With that, Waen pulled out a wad of musical scores and handed them to her.

"You can read them, right?" The Thai looked at her expectantly.

"I can… but would it be alright if I listened to your songs instead? I learn better by listening."

"You learn by ear, ana~?" Even with his glasses, Maria could see his eyes grow bigger a bit in surprise.

"Yeah… Is that a bad thing..?" asked the girl nervously.

"No, it's not, ana~ It's just a little rare." Waen smile seemed to grow even wider. "Wait here. I'll just go get my CD and some headphones."

* * *

><p>When Waen came back, he handed her his CD player, an instrumental version of their CD, and some headphones.<p>

"Aww~ That's so cute!"

"Huh… What is, ana?" The Thai man looked at the Filipino surprisedly.

"That." Maria pointed to his blue elephant patterned CD case. "Do you like elephants a lot?"

"Ana~" Waen smiled at her again. "I do. They're adorable, right? My family has one back home in Thailand, ana~ His name is Toto."

"That's-" Maria stopped herself. The thought just registered in her head that he said he had a pet elephant back in Thailand. Was that even legal?

"Umm… Is it normal to have elephants as pets in Thailand…?"

"Oh, no." The Thai guitarist laughed. "My family partly owns a zoo, because of our donations, ana~"

"Oh, that makes sense!" The Filipina laughed along with him. Now that she thought of it, having a pet elephant would be tough… Just imagine where it would sleep, eat, and all that space! No wonder no one had any pet elephants in the city.

"Here." Waen brought out his cellphone and handed it to her. "That's Toto on my wallpaper, ana~"

Maria peered into his cellphone and, sure enough, there was a picture of a baby elephant on the wallpaper. "Awwwwww~"

"But that picture was taken, when he was a baby, ana~ He's grown a lot bigger since I last visited, ana~"

"Still, elephants are cute even when they grow bigger." Maria handed him back his cellphone.

"True, true, ana~"

* * *

><p>"Okay, that's enough for today, ana~"<p>

"Already?"

"Yeah. At first, I honestly thought we'd only be able to finish three songs at most today. Five songs are more than enough, ana~"

After she had returned his phone, Maria immediately focused on the work at hand and began listening to the music, paying extra attention to the guitar pieces.

Listening to half of the CD, Maria had to admit they were pretty good. Each of the songs had a great and unique melody that was easy to like. She almost said she loved them all… until she remembered a certain drummer was their main composer and lyricist. The Filipina frowned at the thought.

The first song she learned was a breeze. She got it down after a few tries. The second and third were pretty fast so she had a hard time at first and ended up ad-libbing some of the parts. Even so, Waen was a good teacher and managed to guide her to the right notes. Eventually, she perfected them after a number of tries. The fourth and fifth, luckily, didn't give her much trouble either. Overall, Maria could say she did well.

"Manuel, here." Waen handed her the CD. "You can listen to this at home. You did a pretty good job today, ana~" The Thai guy patted her on the head.

Maria smiled. "Thank you for your help today, Kuya Waen. I don't think I could've mastered that second song if you weren't here."

"No problem, ana~"

The two ended up exchanging numbers and talking about elephants until Karun stopped by in order to drive Maria back to the restaurant.

* * *

><p>When Karun came back from driving Maria to the restaurant, he was immediately greeted by Waen handing him chopsticks and a bowl of pad thai.<p>

"Ah, thank you, Waen." The manager gladly accepted the bowl and the chopsticks and sat down to eat. Waen's pad thai always tasted great and was spicy enough for his tastes.

"So… How was Manuel today?"

"Manuel is a very fast learner, ana~ Manuel didn't have many problems with the pieces and was a very nice girl, too, ana~"

"Tha-" Karun almost choked on his noodles. Did he just say "girl"?

"About that, Manager…" Though he was still smiling, anyone who knew the Thai man well could say that the look on his face was a serious one. "Why did you hide the fact Manuel's a girl from us, ana~?"

* * *

><p>AN: Wow... how long has it been since I last updated this story..? Almost a year, I think orz... I'm really sorry to all who've been waiting for this to update. I know I really don't like people who give excuses, but, honestly, a lot has happened to me this year. Getting a C for the first time, Prom, and, most importantly, my mom passing away to name the major ones. RL has been tough and writing has been the last thing on my mind. Well, thank you for everyone who continued to read my story, despite the lack of updates. I'm very grateful.<p>

Yeah... I'll probably kick myself later for revealing it to soon. But, despite his seemingly flighty personality, Waen's an observant guy and it seemed OOC if he didn't notice... Call it instinct, I guess.

Thanks for reading! - solitarycloud X3


	9. Secret Revealed

Instant Noodles:

Chapter 8 - Secret Revealed

"So… Let me see if I understand. You are telling us that our new substitute guitarist is actually a girl and that our manager lied to us about it?" asked Ridwan.

The members of the band Instant Noodles were in the middle of dessert after dinner. Karun, their manager, had bought them fresh fruits like mangoes and some melon to share as a reward for all their hard work.

"Yeah. That's pretty much everything, ana~" Waen just smiled as he sipped his tea.

What an odd bunch they were, thought Waen. Normal people might been riled up or panicking over the news that their substitute guitarist was actually or a girl or the fact that Manager Karun hid the her true identity, but not them. They were all calmly sitting around a table, eating their fruit as if they were just talking about sports or the weather.

"But Waen… How did you know that uhh… Manuel was a…. a girl?" The Bruneian looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Ana~" Waen paused for a moment to think. "Well, I wasn't a hundred percent sure when I talked to the manager about it, but what gave it away for me was probably the way she talked."

"The way she talked, lah?" It was the Malaysian's turn to stare.

The Thai man nodded. "Her would often get pitches higher, a little too high for a guy, whenever she was excited or frustrated. I noticed this a lot when I was teaching her the songs."

Though he didn't say it out loud, something that also bothered the bespectacled guitarist was Manuel's little habits. The Filipino would often clap her hands enthusiastically when she was nailing a song and, also, she would purse her lips and pout if she was not getting the right notes.

Waen thought nothing of it at first, but those little quirks plus Manuel's unusually high voice, made him wonder whether their substitute guitarist was actually male. Bringing it up to his manager, he was shocked to see the Indian man, someone who rarely lost his cool, react so strongly to his inquiry. This final confirmation with his manager proved his suspicions were correct.

"I hope she's hot~," said Malik in between munches of fruit. "Hey Waen, did ya manage to see what she looks like, lah?"

"Well… I never really got to see Manuel as a girl yet, ana~ But, I'm sure she's very nice and sweet. She even said elephants were cute." Waen beamed brighter when he mentioned the word "elephants".

"Aww… That's no fun," Malik pouted. "It'd be nice to have a hot girl around here too sometimes."

Ridwan sighed. "I really hope you don't have any intentions of hitting on her. Manager would kill us if you scared her away with all your flirting…"

"Heh." Malik winked at his friends. "I'm not making any promises, lah~"

Waen looked around at the other members. Jaya and Shein didn't seem all too affected by the news. Hmm… Maybe they were and just didn't show it? The Thai man turned to face the two other members.

"What do you guys think, ana~? Both of you don't seem very surprised by this."

Both the Indonesian and the Burmese guy seemed to ignore their band-mate at first. Jaya was busy cutting up his fruit, while Shein just stared into his tea. After a moment of silence, Shein looked up from his tea and gazed at Waen.

"…Not that…surprising… I noticed…his pitch… was really high… sometimes…too…" was the reply of their keyboardist.

"How about you, Jaya? What do you think?"

The Indonesian spooned a mouthful of mango and took a bite. Waen tried to observe his face and guess what he was thinking, but the drummer's head was facing downward. It honestly looked as if he was deeply concentrated on eating his fruit, but the guitarist knew otherwise.

"Does it really matter whether that guitarist was a girl or not?"

"Ana~?" Jaya now looked at Waen straight in the eyes. Figures, ana~ The Indonesian always had a serious look on him when they were talking about music and the band. "Uhh… No… I guess not, ana~"

"Then that settles it." Jaya then finished his mango and began cutting up another one. Ana~ Well… Jaya did have a point; a good guitarist was a good guitarist. Gender, age, and ethnicity were not factors deciding whether one was a skilled guitar player or not.

"Hey Waen?"

"Yeah, ana~?"

"Did you see if Karun brought home any durians? They're supposed to be in season now."

* * *

><p>Waking up this morning, Maria thought it was going to be a wonderful day. She had gone to work humming with a little extra spring in her step. Yet, following the day's events she couldn't have been more wrong.<p>

At work, she accidentally spilled some sauce on herself as she was carrying a bowl to the tables. She also managed hurt herself by slipping on the wet floor just right after her shift. _Okay, so there's been a couple mishaps today, but I'm sure the rest of the day will be fine, she thought to herself._ The Filipina tried think positive so she could look forward going to her second job.

But luck wasn't really on her side that day. Stepping into the storage room entrance, she expected to see Karun or Feliks waiting outside the elevator for her, but, instead of them, she walked head first a certain drummer, who happened to be there looking for an extra pair of drumsticks.

"Arayyy…*" Maria rubbed the part of her head which collided into the drummer. "I'm sorry I wasn't looking where I was-" When Maria looked up to see the victim of her absentmindedness, the girl felt her jaw drop a little as she stopped mid-sentence.

Of all the people in the world I could've bumped into, it just had to be him. The girl couldn't help but grimace a bit.

"How did you get in here?!" The Indonesian looked at her incredulously. It was obvious from the shock in his voice the drummer wasn't expecting anyone to enter the room.

"Err… I'm sorry! I must have gotten off on the wrong floor or something…" Maria backed up slowly. She would have reached the elevator had the drummer not grabbed hold on her arm.

Sanjaya pulled the girl closer to where he stood. Upon closer inspection, his eyes widened with recognition. "You… you're that waitress girl from that Chinese restaurant Karun likes…"

"I… umm…" Silence filled the room. Maria couldn't think of what to say. She totally sucked at lying on the spot and the boy's grip on her arm was tight so she couldn't really escape either. All she could do at the moment was babble incoherently.

Neither one of them said anything. Maria could feel his eyes glare at her as she stood dumbly. A door creaked open and the silence was broken. Both heads turned to see who came in. It was Karun, the manager.

With a raised eyebrow, the manager casually observed the scene. "I see you two find rather strange ways to meet." There was a somewhat amused tone in his voice. "Jaya, say hello to your substitute guitarist."

_Screw it_. Good feeling or not, Maria would definitely brand this day as terrible.

* * *

><p>"Explanations will be given later. Just follow me for now." The manager's words rung in her head as she went along with him.<p>

They entered the blue room with orange furniture where she had the band members for the first time. Aside from Sanjaya, the rest of the boys were already sitting on the orange sofas. Karun gestured that Maria and Jaya take a seat as well. The girl sat in the closest one, right next to a messy haired guy she was sure was named Shein. Jaya sat opposite to them, beside the singer. Malik? Maria wasn't sure; she'd always hated remembering names.

"Now that we're all here, I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. I'll be getting to all of them eventually, but, for now, please just listen," Karun said to all of them with a smile. For some reason, Maria felt like he said it as if he were talking to small children.

"As you all know, a substitute guitarist is definitely in order. Ever since Waen's accident in your last performance, I've been looking for someone who could play just as well. You've all seen how she plays, there's no doubt she has the skill to keep up with you in a live performance."

"But why does she have to cross-dress, lah?" interrupted Malik.

"I was about to get that," Karun looked at the Malaysian sternly, then turned to look at the rest of the band plus Maria. "But there are valid reasons why I had her pretend to be male. One was for her to be able to avoid the media. It would be troublesome for her if she had paparazzi following her all the way home and disrupt her daily life."

"The other reason was," The Indian man cleared his throat. "So that she could avoid the wrath of some of your most devoted female fans. Maria's safety is an important to consider as well."

"Does anyone still have any questions?" asked Karun. Several heads shook in response.

"Good." Karun smiled. "I do hope you'll learn to get along together immediately, you're next performance will be held next week after all."

* * *

><p>AN: Hi~! We're finally at chapter 8, huh? I'm so glad I managed to finish it... =w= *is lazy* To be honest, this chapter was a little rushed, if there are any mistakes in grammar or whatever please tell me. I had major writer's block at the second scene, so I'm sorry if it turned out kinda cliche... I'll keep the quality and avoid cliche stuff in the future chapters.<p>

I_ might _be introducing a couple more Hetalia characters soon. That's something to look forward to I guess ^w^

Anyway, an important announcement from me. This might actually be last chapter I write in the Philippines. I'm going to be moving to the US very soon, so yeah... I'm happy I get to live with my dad again, but you can imagine how complicated it is for me right now. Updates might be a little slower, but I'll do my best to update at least once a month. ^^;

Special thanks to mangoshake24 and my guest reviewer, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! :D Really, reviews, no matter how harsh or nice, are love to me, so please please review!

Thank you for reading! -solitarycloud X3


	10. A Surprise Guest

IN 9

Chapter 9 - A Surprise Guest

"Stop! Just stop the music!"

All of a sudden, instruments ceased playing and the singer's voice came to an abrupt stop. Music that had been previously been blaring throughout the practice room immediately came to a halt and was quickly replaced by a lingering silence.

Maria, or Ria as she had become known to the members of the band, could only stare at the reason why they all had suddenly stopped doing what they were supposed to be doing and, apparently, she wasn't the only one. All eyes were fixed at the young man behind the drums, they were all waiting expectantly at what the Indonesian had to say . Said Indonesian was rubbing his temples and muttering incoherently in an annoyed manner. Scowling, Jaya turned to look up at his fellow bandmates.

"Malik," the drummer practically growled. "Did you forget the lyrics again? You were slurring in that second verse!"

To Ria's surprise, the Malaysian didn't argue back. The singer merely bit his lip and grumbled softly. "Damn perfectionist..."

As Jaya continued to bark out his complaints to each and every member, Ria quickly made eye contact with the smiling Thai man standing along the sidelines.

"Hey Kuya Waen..." The girl whispered softly to the injured guitarist. "Is Jaya always... Always this strict?"

The bespectacled man chuckled and replied in a hushed tone. "He is, but we just let him be, usually. When it comes to the music, we all trust his opinion since Jaya knows best. He was the one who composed most of our songs after all, ana~"

"Really?" The Filipina asked, eyes widening slightly. Though she didn't really like the drummer's rather rude attitude per se, Ria couldn't help but (begrudgingly) admire the Indonesian quite a bit (only just a tiny little bit, the girl hastily thought to herself). She knew from experience that composing was tough, her time with her mentor, the BTT guitarist, taught her that, and from what she'd heard so far, Instant Noodles had a pretty wide range of songs, some with fast upbeat tempos, others slow and ballad-like. Now that was something even she, an unseasoned listener, could respect.

"Mhmm, ana~" Waen grinned in confirmation. The pair both turned toward the drummer in question. He was currently giving a mouthful tirade about the keyboardist's timing to which Shein just nodded his head rather sleepily.

"And you, Ria..." The girl could've sworn she saw a vein popping out of the drummer's forehead as he addressed her. "You were ad libbing again, weren't you?!"

_Uh oh..._ Ria grimaced, she didn't think she would be caught so easily. Before the Filipino could open her mouth to retort, the doors* of the practice room slammed open and in came a very excited looking manager.

"Namaste*, everyone!" Karun smiled from ear to ear as he greeted the band plus the substitute guitarist. Ria took note of the fact that the Indian man was exceedingly cheerful today. She wouldn't have been surprised if he'd have told them he won the lottery or something akin to that.

"Hey Manager, what's up, lah?" Malik asked. It was pretty obvious the Malaysian was glad for the distraction. After that intense grilling session he just got courtesy of Jaya, a breather was definitely in order.

"Oh, I just have the greatest news!" The man said melodiously, as if he was almost singing. "Any of you familiar with the name Roderich Edelstein?"

"Umm... Isn't he a famous Austrian pianist and composer?" asked Ridwan.

"That's right! He'll be coming to Singapore all the way from Europe to play with you guys in your next performance. You'll even be able to collaborate together in a song!"

* * *

><p>"Ate Kim, Chenda, I'm home!"<p>

"Ah welcome back, Ria." Chenda looked up from her sewing and smiled as the Filipina entered their shared living room.

"Oooh~ That's so pretty, Chenda!" Maria pointed to the green leaf the Cambodian was currently embroidering on a blue cloth.

"Thank you. I'm really glad you like it," said Chenda softly as she looked down at her handiwork. A blissful look graced her face and the girl fingered the fabric lovingly.

Ria felt a mischievous smile tug up her lips. "That's for Kahoku, isn't it?"

"Eh! I umm… uhh…" stuttered a surprised Chenda. The younger girl's cheeks quickly turned a dark shade of red, causing the Filipina to chortle out loud.

_Bullseye_, thought Ria as she grinned fully at her friend's embarrassment.

"You know you don't have to hide anything from me~" said the Filipina in a teasing voice and winked.

Chenda averted her eyes from Ria. A pink blush still tinged the Cambodian's face when the girl finally nodded her head slowly.

Ria couldn't help but chuckle a little. The younger girl was so cute and so easy to tease. When she was done laughing, the Filipina blinked as she quickly remembered something. "By the way, Chenda, where's Ate Kim?"

The Cambodian smiled weakly, glad for a change of topic. "I think she's at the supermarket. She said something about running out of soy sauce a while ago."

"Oh, okay." Ria was about to make her way to the door, but stopped and pursed her lips. "Hey Chenda…"

"Yes?"

"Have you ever heard of someone called Roderich Edelstein?"

"Umm.." The Cambodian looked up from her embroidery again and paused to think. "Yeah… I think I saw a video of him on Youtube. He's a really wonderful pianist."

"I see…" _So even Chenda's heard about him,_ Ria thought to herself. _I really need to be more updated with music nowadays…_

"Any reason why you asked?"

"Err.. No reason." Caught of guard, the Filipino's eyes widened a little before she could think of an excuse. "Umm… I remember Rachel said something about him coming to Singapore or something. He'll be performing soon, so I hear." Ria shrugged.

"Alright then." Chenda's brown eyes darted back to the blue fabric in her hands. "Ill call you when Kim comes home then."

"'Kay. I'll be in my room until then." With a wave, Ria walked to the door on the left side of the living room and stepped inside. Her room was a mess (as usual). With books, articles of clothing, and an assortment of things strewn all over the bed and floor, the girl's room looked as if it was hit by a signal number four typhoon.

Kim had always nagged her about cleaning up, but Ria always put it off until the very last moment. Cleaning was one of the things the Filipina hated most.

"I mean… Why bother cleaning? It's going to get messy again later, you know," she had reasoned when the Vietnamese girl pestered her yet again to clean up. Kim had only sighed and shook her head in exasperation.

Ria expertly navigated her way through the stuff piled on the floor to her (unmade) bed. Taking of her slippers, the girl then plopped down and stared at the ceiling.

The girl blinked and thought for a moment.

_Where did I leave my laptop again?_

* * *

><p>About twenty minutes later, Ria had finally opened her laptop and was typing the Austrian composer's name on the search bar of her web browser.<br>It took a while, but she was able to find her netbook. Eventually.

After she realized her computer was missing, the girl had quickly shot up from bed and began frantically searching around her room.

Looking through every nook and cranny of the room, the Filipina certainly surprised herself as she found things that had been previously missing. Every now and then, the girl would utter statements like: "Huh..? I've been looking for this USB for ages and it was only here?!" or "Aren't these Mei's magazines and Rachel's books..? I was so sure I returned them already..." and many, many other similar remarks.

But, to no avail, she still couldn't find her damned netbook! Ria was sure she had placed it… umm… somewhere. At least, somewhere within this room, (she hoped…) The girl sighed and sat down on the stool in front of her small work table. Really, it was times like these she sincerely wondered if there was some evil, sadistic spirit out there following her around and hiding her things all the time so it could take pleasure watching her run around looking for things and, in her frenzied search, make an even bigger mess than before.

Luckily, she'd decided to check her work table, a small folding table where she did homework and stuff, one more time and, sure enough, the familiar black laptop was there underneath a pile of clothes.

Grabbing it out, she immediately connected it to the charger and started it up.

Now, she was currently waiting for the video to load. When she had typed the man's name, Ria clicked the first link that came out, which happened to be a video of his piano solo on Youtube.

Eyes glued to the now playing video, Ria watched it closely.

Seeing the brown-haired man entered the stage, Ria was quite startled. The man looked like he just stepped out of a Jane Austen novel. Clad in a blue coat and a cravat covering his neck, Mr. Edelstein certainly resembled a European noble in the 18th century.

The man's walk to the piano was unnecessary slow, in Ria's opinion. He sauntered about leisurely, as if walking in a park, completely indifferent to the audience watching him, but when he finally arrived at the piano, it all suddenly became quiet.  
>The man finally began to play. It was a slow melody. Mr. Edelstein played with precision as his fingers danced on the keys. Gentle yet intense at the same time, it felt as each note played was caressing each of the listener's ears. Ria, filled with awe at how something that sounded delicate be so powerful, couldn't help but close her eyes and immerse herself in the song.<p>

When the song finally ended, Mr. Edelstein stood up and gave a deep bow to the audience. After a moment of silence, the man was given not only a round of applause but also a standing ovation. The video stopped and Ria could only stare at her computer screen.

Without a doubt, Mr. Roderich Edelstein was truly a skilled musician.

* * *

><p>"Like, OMG! Hey Bestie!"<p>

The next day after they heard they were going to have a collaboration with the pianist, Ria found herself, Feliks, the manager, and the rest of the Instant Noodles band squished together in a van, heading toward the band's recording studio. Today, they were finally going to meet the famous Mr. Edelstein. As soon as they stepped into the building, Feliks had run ahead and glomped the brown-haired young man at the reception booth.

"Oof… Come on, Feliks, let go already!" The man cried embarrassedly as he struggled out of the Pole's grip.

"No! I haven't seen you in, like, forever!"

"You just saw me a week ago!"

"Humph… Fine! Have it your way." The blond pouted and finally let go of the distraught brunette. "You're such a spoilsport, ya know that?"

Sighing, the man attempted to fix his now rumpled hair and uniform. When he had finally deemed his hair and clothes acceptable, the man turned to the newly arrived group. "Sorry for making you wait." said the receptionist apologetically.

"It's fine, Toris. We all saw what this one did," Karun gestured to the still pouting Pole, "you have nothing to apologize for." There was a trace of amusement in the manager's tone.

"Still…" Sighing one more time, the receptionist turned to the group and greeted everyone with a smile. "Good morning everyone and welcome to Braginski Recording Studios."

The receptionist's eyes scanned them all one by one, until they rested on Ria, who was currently dressed in guys clothes. "Oh hello, I don't believe we've met before."

"Oh, riiiiiight! I, like, totally forgot to introduce you guys!" Feliks put his hand on Ria's shoulder. "Tor, this is Manuel. He's our new substitute guitarist. Manuel, this is Tor. He's, like, my BFF from Lithuania."

"Hello, I'm Toris. I'm the receptionist here." With a friendly smile, Toris extended his hand in front of Ria.

To this, Ria offered a weak smile and gently shook his hand. "Hello"

"Anyways, you guys are here to see Mr. Edestein, am I correct?" asked Toris, as he glanced at the schedules on his computer.

"Like, OMG! How did you know?"

"Err… It's in the schedule?" deadpanned Toris.

Karun decided to cut in before their conversation got to long-winded and out of topic; time was ticking here. "Umm… Toris? Where is Mr. Edelstein waiting?"

"Ah, right," Toris cleared his throat. "Mr. Edestein is waiting for you at music room number two at the third floor."

"The one with the grand piano?" asked the manager.

"Yep. That's the one."

"Alright, thank you, Toris." Karun turned to head towards the elevator.

"It's no problem." said the brunette receptionist with a smile.

"See ya later, Bestie!" Feliks called out as he left with the group.

"Bye." Toris waved his hand at his friends and co-workers.

Reaching the elevator, the group waited for a short while until the familiar ding of the elevator could be heard. Since it was one of those elevators that could accommodate around twenty people, the whole group was able to step inside immediately.

"What floor?" asked the lady manning the elevator, gruffly. The woman was beautiful. With her long platinum blond hair and a purple bow on her head, Ria was reminded of a doll, but the annoyed scowl on the girl's face ruined her good looks.

"The third floor, please," answered Karun, unfazed by the ice in the woman's tone.

"What's her problem?" muttered Ria to the stylist beside her.

"Oh, don't mind Natalya, hon. The girl's been like that since _forever_." The Pole nodded his head knowingly.

The lady, who Ria learned later on was Belarusian, continued to glare at the group as they stepped out on the third floor.

"This way," Karun led them all to the hallway on the right. "I'm sure the music rooms are on this side."

They walked along the hallway until they stopped by a red door with the number two on the side. Sure enough, from the glass on the door, Ria could make out a brown-haired man playing a black grand piano.

Without knocking, the Indian man opened the door. Immediately, their ears were assaulted by a barrage of sound that could not be heard outside due to the soundproof walls.

The music the man was making was very much different from the video she watched the night before, observed Ria. The song on the video had been light and sweet, whereas the melody playing right before her was so very deep, heavy, and, dare she say it, sad. With each note dripping with such emotion, the girl could feel her heart wrench at the song yet it was so enchanting that she couldn't bring herself to look away and cover her ears.

It seemed everyone had the same reaction as her. When the song finally ended. They all just stared, mouths agape, at the pianist. A moment passed and it was Mr. Roderich Edelstein himself who broke the silence.

The man cleared his throat. "I assume you must be the band Instant Noodles, yes?"

The manager was the first one to snap out of the spell. "Yes. My name is Karun Swarup. I am the manager of this band."

Introductions were quickly made. Hands were shook and pleasantries exchanged.

Now that the Austrian was facing them, Ria could now clearly see how he looked like in person. He had a handsome face with neat brown hair, save for a strand that seemed to defy gravity, wire-rimmed glasses perched on an aristocratic nose. The man had the air of a nobleman, not only in the way he was dressed, but also with the elegance and confidence he carried himself.

"It shall be a pleasure working with you." The Austrian politely said.

"The pleasure is ours." Karun returned with a smile.

Mr. Edelstein pulled out a fob watch from his coat. Ria blinked. There were still people who used those kind of watches?!

"My manager had to step out a for a while, but she will be here shortly." The man nodded to the door.

Karun retained his smile. After a minute or two had passed, a pretty woman with a bright flower in her hair stepped into the music room.

The words escaped Ria's mouth before she could even think.

"Ate Lizzy!"

* * *

><p>*I'm pretty sure I explained in the previous chapter that there's a door outside the door of the practice room hence it being double door-ed (?)<p>

*Namaste is a common greeting in India and Nepal

* * *

><p>AN: Hey guys! It's finally chapter 9, which is currently the longest chapter so far (2775 words to be exact) :D (Heh, it's kinda obvious I like pointing out the obvious ^^;) Thanks so much to everyone who's been keeping up with this story so far! ^w^<p>

Honestly, I was actually planning to update quite later since I'm actually going to be moving to the US soon (Alfred, LOL XD), but there was a delay in my visa and stuff so I'm stuck here for a while ^^; Not that I'm complaining, really. :D

Actually, I'm pretty surprised with this one... Originally, I was only planning to introduce Hungary and Austria, but I thought of an awesome scene with Cambodia-chan and I think Feliks kind of dragged Lithuania into this one and, subsequently, Belarus too. Russia was supposed to be a surprise, but I couldn't come up with a name for the recording studio D: I know it's kind of weird to have so many Europeans working in Singapore, but you guys'll ignore that won't you? I mean, I know you want them there ;)

Much thanks to Luna Espejo, FreeDee, anakeren/I am Kampret for the reviews! Also a special shout out to my Indonesian readers! I was surprised when I am Kampret told me there were a number of you guys reading this fic of mine :DDD

Guys, please, PLEASE review! Seriously... It's the fuel to my fire and keeps me going on. Also, I really do love hearing what y'all got to say. *looks at each and everyone of you with puppy dog eyes*

Also, *cough* Shameless Advertising *cough* I happen to have two Shingeki no Kyojin stories posted, one a short drabble and the other some weird fairy tale AU. If any of you likes the LeviHan pairing from SNK, please do feel free to check it out ^w^

Thanks for reading! - solitarycloud X3


	11. Recognition

Instant Noodles

Chapter 10 - Recognition

Ria cringed uncomfortably as she felt nine pairs of eyes stare at her intently. _Me and my big mouth… _the girl moaned inwardly.

"Ahem…" Roderich cleared his throat and turned to the pretty brunette who entered the room. "Elizaveta, do you know this young man?"

The woman gazed at the substitute guitarist with scrutinizing eyes. "No, Mr. Edelstein, I'm afraid not."

"Perhaps," the lady with a flower in her hair turned to face the embarrassed Filipino. "You've mistaken me for someone else?"

The girl dressed in boy's clothes blinked twice and then nodded her head quickly. "Ah! Yes! That must be it! I'm so sorry for my rude outburst! You just… just reminded me of someone I knew long ago…" Ria trailed off, unsure of what else to say. The girl could feel her cheeks burning up in embarrassment.

An awkward silence filled the air for a few minutes, but it was quickly broken by the sound of melodious laughter. Confused eyes turned to the Indian man who was now chuckling softly. When the manager finally regained his bearings, the man took a deep breath and flashed a mega-watt smile.

"I'm sorry," the Indian man raised his head to meet the eyes of the perplexed crowd. "I was just reminded of an old joke I heard long ago about how Westerners can not tell Easterners apart and vice versa. It was just strangely similar to the situation at this moment. Now," the manager nodded his head to the Europeans, "shall we get back to business?"

"Yes, of course." The European woman took this as a cue to go on and introduce herself. "My name is Elizaveta Hedavary, I'm Mr. Edelstein's manager from Hungary. It's a pleasure to meet all of you" The woman smiled sweetly at the Asians and Feliks.

"We are also very pleased to work with you, madam," the Indian man replied smoothly.

From there on, the conversation focused on meeting schedules and joint practices for the band and Mr. Edelstein. Ria was determined not to make a fool of herself again, so she promptly kept her mouth shut for the rest of the meeting.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to just blurt that out, I-" Ria's attempts to apologize profusely were interrupted when the manager held up his hand. It was a signal for her to stop.<p>

"It's alright, Ria. There's no harm done, anyway." The man smiled and patted the girl's head. "Just make sure not to think before you speak next time, okay?"

'Yes, sir…" the girl mumbled weakly.

"Good."

After the meeting had ended with Mr. Edelstein and his manager ended, the Instant Noodles crew bade their farewells to the pianist and his manager (plus Toris down at the reception) and made their way back down to the parking lot.

As the designated driver of the group, Karun's seat in the van was secured, but for the others, they argued as to who should sit where. Since Ria didn't bother saying anything this time, she was surprised to find herself squished between Ridwan and Jaya, much to her chagrin, in the middle row of the van.

The girl still didn't like the drummer all that much; he was moody, rude, and talked in such a way that made him seem superior to others. She would have preferred to sit at the back with Malik, Shein and Waen, or at the front where Feliks was sitting, but, even if she didn't like the arrangement, Ria did her best not to complain. The Filipina still felt pretty embarrassed about her sudden outburst earlier and did not want to cause any more problems for the band.

Karun started the car and drove back to where the boys resided. The drive would be relatively short, just thirty minutes since the building where the band members stayed wasn't that far.

_If this had been Manila, then the drive would probably take an hour since you have to count the traffic._ Ria couldn't help but crack a small smile at the thought. Back then, she'd always found the traffic and a total waste of her time, but now, it was just one of those odd things she missed about her home city.

"Hey, Ria, lah." The girl twisted her head back at the sound of her name. It was Malik calling her. "Do you know Ms. Hedevary? You acted like you did when you just blurted out a nickname or something, lah."

The Filipina sighed. She was expecting a question like this sooner or later. "Yeah, I think so… She was someone I knew from a long time ago. I kinda forgot I was dressed in guy clothes so I called out to her." Ria laughed weakly.

"Oh? How do you know her, lah?" The Malaysian's curiosity was piqued.

"Err… Sorry," the girl frowned. "It's kind of personal, so I'd rather not say…"

Waen decided to change the subject before his bandmate started to pry. It wasn't as if the Malaysian did not know how to read the atmosphere, but the bespectacled man knew Malik could be insensitive when he was curious about something.

"Ana~ Ria, you're from the Philippines, right?"

"Yup, I am," the girl replied cheerfully. She was proud of her roots.

"Then, please don't think this question is too personal, ana~"

The girl stared at Thai man a bit confusedly, curious as to what he was going to ask. Though he was still smiling, there was something very serious about his expression. "I've been wondering this for some time now, but why are you here in Singapore, ana~?"

Excluding Shein, who was napping at the back, all the boys seemed pretty interested in her answer. Even Jaya. Though his expression seemed uninterested since he seemed like he was just staring out the window, without the girl's knowledge, the Indonesian was actually watching her reflection through the window.

One could suppose, at that moment, the boys collectively realized that, despite her friendly nature, they knew almost nothing their substitute guitarist.

"Oh. Don't worry about it. That seemed like a reasonable question to me," the Filipina flashed Waen a grin. "I'm actually here to study in the university."

"Ohh! Let me guess, lah! You're studying nursing, right?

"W-WHAT?!" Ria sputtered. She almost choked on her saliva in her surprise. "Hell no! What makes you think that?"

"Cuz, you're Filipino. Don't most Filipinos want to be nurses, lah?"

"That's… That's a pretty prejudiced thing to say, don't you think?" Ria shot the singer with an angry glare. If looks could kill, the singer would've been six feet under by now. "Besides, if you've heard the news, then you'll know there's too many nurses in the Philippines already."

"Ouch!" The Malaysian yelped in both surprise and pain. He rubbed the spot where the injured guitarist had elbowed him. "What was that for?!"

"You were being rude, Malik." The Thai man eyed him sternly. Malik had always found it creepy how the guitarist could emit such an angry aura while still retaining a brilliant smile. "Now apologize, ana~"

"Sorry, Ria~"

To the girl, the apology was achingly similar to how a kid would reluctantly apologize to a stranger, after being chastised by his mother. Still, it was better than nothing, she supposed. After all, her mom had told her getting angry too much would give her high blood pressure. "It's fine, I guess…"

"So, if we may ask, what course are you studying?" Though the bassist was quiet, he had been listening to the conversation with mild interest.

"Biology, actually. They say it's a pretty good pre-med course," when the girl turned to look at the Bruneian, she could feel her lips tug upwards. "I may not look it or act like it, but I actually want to be a doctor someday."

"That's pretty impressive, lah…"

"Like, totally."

"I agree, ana~" Waen nodded his head. "But could we ask why you want to be a doctor?"

"Oh, I've always really liked science subjects ever since I started school and I was especially good at Bio class in high school. But," the girl looked down at her lap. Voice soft, she continued. "The main reason why I want to be a doctor is because it's been my dream ever since I was young. I won't lie and just say I want to help a sick people or something, although that's part what of makes being a doctor awesome. It's more like an instinct, really. I can't really name an exact reason why I want to become a doctor, but I just… I just know I want to be one."

The girl looked up from her lap and just gazed straight ahead without really seeing anything. "It's stupid, right? Even I don't get it myself sometimes…"

"It's not stupid at all."

Ria turned her head to face the drummer on her right, a puzzled look on her face. He hadn't said anything since they'd gotten to the van and the Indonesian seemed more content looking out the window than saying anything. Why he spoke up now was a mystery to her.

"Dreams are powerful things. They can push you to your limits and make you strive for what seems like the impossible. But, of course," the drummer turned his head from the window and faced the girl. There was a serious look in his eyes this time. "Having a dream is useless if you don't put any hard work into it."

Ria blinked twice and stared at the boy. She was expecting him to scoff at her dream, laugh at her even, so for him to say all these things was definitely a surprise. What was even stranger about the whole thing was that his words rang true for her. They made sense. A dream _was_ useless if you didn't strive to achieve it.

The girl shook her head and tried not to think about the weirdness of it anymore.

A few minutes later, they had arrived at the boys' home.

* * *

><p>Today was finally the day of the joint practice between the pianist, Roderich Edelstein, and the band, Instant Noodles. The pianist and his manager had agreed to meet the band in their home for the practice.<p>

The Austrian musician proved to be just as excellent in the practice as he was when the group caught him playing in the practice room. Just like the previous time, however, the man's songs continued to be so sad. It was heartbreaking to listen to the man play.

It took a lot of effort for Ria not to stare in awe of the pianist and just focus on her own playing. Fortunately, she and the rest of the band were able to play fairly well, that even fussy and scrupulous Jaya had nothing to complain about.

The practice ended pretty quickly. The boys (excluding Jaya who was in the living room area, currently in a serious discussion with the pianist about a song they were composing together, Karun was overseeing the talk) went their separate ways to retire for the day. Just as Ria was about to get ready to leave, the girl-dressed-in-boy's-clothes felt someone tap her shoulder.

"Wait! Manuel, right?"

The Filipina turned to see the Hungarian woman behind her. It was Ate Lizzy! Or Ms. Hedevary, since she was still in disguise….

Green eyes gazed into nervous brown ones. Ria could feel herself fidget slightly at the intensity of the stare. After giving the substitute another quick once-over, the woman, with disbelieving eyes, asked, "Ria..? Is that you?"

The Filipina nodded her head dumbly, eyes wide with surprise. "H-how were you able to recognize me?"

The woman shot her a grin. "Silly girl! Of course, I'd recognize you! You still do that little hand flick like Antonio does when it gets to that certain note and, besides, you're the only person I know who calls me Ate Lizzy."

"Still…" the woman continued, her hand ruffling Ria's wig affectionately. "This disguise is incredible! I almost didn't know it was you until I watched you practice again…"

"You'll have to talk to Feliks for that," the girl smiled wryly. "He's the one who puts make up on me on chooses what I wear."

The older woman embraced the girl. "It's been so long… I wish we'd kept in touch."

The girl perked up at the comment. "Ate Lizzy, do you have a cellphone or an email address?"

"Yes, I have both."

"Can I have them then?" The girl squirmed out of the hug and grabbed the cellphone in her bag. The two quickly exchanged numbers and email addresses.

A voice calling for the Hungarian manager interrupted the girls' conversation. "Am I interrupting something?" The man frowned, as he looked back and forth between his manger and the girl-dressed-as-a-boy. Turning to the Hungarian, he told her he would wait for her in the car. The Austrian turned heel and left.

"Did we upset him somehow?" asked the girl, perplexed.

"I'm not sure either, Ria…" The older woman sighed and shrugged. Ate Lizzy gave the girl's shoulder an affectionate squeeze before walking after the man. "I'll text or email you later, alright?"

"Sure, Ate." The girl smiled and waved at the lady whom she looked up to like an older sister. "Ill talk to you later."

* * *

><p>AN: Umm... Hi... Sorry about not updating for a while and the poor quality again... *throws chapter at you and runs*<p>

Special thanks to animeminecrafterotaku, Meijin-san, and FreeDee for the reviews ;w; They're the reasons why I haven't given up on this little fic yet...

I'm so sorry... I'm pretty exhausted right now. Bye.


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